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UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEroE. l

JOHN B. WICKERSHAM, `OF NEW YORK, Y.

FOUNDATION `'.EOR PAVEMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,251,`dated July 11, 1854.

To all whom t may concern:

Beit known that I, JOHN4 B. `WICKER- SHAM, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Foundations of Pave ments; and I do hereby dec-lare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in ,which- Figure l, is a plan or top view showing a piece of pavement and its foundation. Fig. 2, is a vertical section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.`

The nature of my invention consists in making the foundation by placing a layer of woven, or other iron work upon a bed of gravel, bro-ken stone, or other suitable material. The paving blocks are placed above the said iron work, in the same way as upon the usual foundations, and when the paving is complete, the weight upon each block is distributed over an area much greater than its own, and hence, if that portion of the bed under any one or moreblocks, should be imperfect, they are prevent-ed from working a hole in the foundation, which would extend itself in every direction, as is the case when there is any imperfection in the foundations no-w in use.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed todef scribe its construction and operation.

A, is the bed upon which the foundation is placed. This may be composed of gravel, broken stone, or any other material, or mixture of materials, commonly employed Vfor the beds of pavements, either in a wet or dry state.

Z), Z), is the iron work, which I have represented as composed by the interlacing or weaving of iron rods, but which may, though I believe, with less advantage,rbe

`composed by crossing-bars of wrought iron, and riveting them together, or may consist of perforated, or unperforated plates of wroughtor cast iron. This iron fabric `is made in sections, B, each of about ten feet square, for the convenience of laying down, and for its removal, if at any time necessary for repairs. The size of the rods, b, em-

ployed, and their distances apart, or the paving, andthelfabric may be thinly covered with the same material.

c, 0, are the blocks, or paving stones, which are laid above the ironrfabric in the same way as upon anyother foundation. Any description of paving stones may be used, but I consider squared blocks to be the best, as they will obtain a more `equal bear- I do not confine `myself to the employment of any particular material for, or to the manner of preparing the bed, A, no-r to the employment of any `particular kind or form` `of paving stone. But

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isV y The employment as a foundation for pavements, `of a layer of woven, or interlaced, or

other iron work, `laid upon a bed of any ,v

suitable material, substantially as herein described.

JoHN B. wicKEEsHAM.

Witnesses JNO. W. HAMiLToN, I, W. CooMBs. 

